Music Makes You Happy

Sorry that I haven't posted anything in a while but things have been a bit crazy.

Recently I had a song stuck in my brain for days and besides annoying me after the second day it got me thinking about how the music industry has changed and progressed in my lifetime. It also got me thinking about who the influencers have been and how many different types of music have become mainstream.

Now it would take many more columns than this one to cover all the changes and influencers since the mid 1950's in music and I've wanted to write a book about this very topic for some time now but each time I get started the mission just seems overwhelming and I push it aside.

I'm not going to cover every single type of music out there, I'm just going to touch on the primary ones. Rock, pop, country and a few others. I'm sure I will miss several names that should be included and you can express your displeasure with my list at the bottom of this blog, or send me an email directly as many of you do when I run afoul of your opinions. I always love hearing from my fans and it gives me great pleasure to delete your comments each time. Just kidding. As far as you know.

For me it all starts with Elvis Presley. He took blues, rockabilly, and country and turned it into this thing called rock and roll. Yes there were others around that time doing things too but without a doubt he was and still is the king. He was another in a line before him that made the easy transition from music into the movies. Crosby, Sinatra, Day, Garland, and others to name just a few. He was a significant influence on the next guys.

You may have heard of this group along the way. Four young lads from Liverpool England, called themselves, (checks his notes), The Beatles. All they did was change the entire world. This is not hyperbole. Their influence ranged from music, to fashion, to politics, to literally everything going on in the world at the time. They dragged a whole country over here with them and it spawned what was, and is, called, "The British Invasion". The first two on this list are in a special category of influencers and it would be unfair to compare anyone else to either of them. Nobody has or will have the effect on the music industry like Elvis and the Fab Four.

The influence an upstart record label in Detroit Michigan had on the industry was monumental to say the least. Within the Motown family there were scores of groups and singers that shaped the sounds of the times and future singers and songwriters. There are too many to list but if you pull up their list of talent there will be plenty of names you will be familiar with and love. I will say that there has never been another record label that had as many top talent people and hit songs ever, and it isn't even close.

The singer that was in my brain for three days that started this whole idea is Janice Joplin. I will say that you either love her or hate her. She seems to be very polarizing, not because of her person but because of her singing voice. On the male side Rod Stewart would be the same. What cannot be denied is that she changed the sound of music and the role of women in the industry in the short time she was with us. She had multiple hit songs on the Billboard chart each year and it only takes one note to recognize her voice. Everyone knows her big hits but for those that are deep fans of her, they will tell you that "Get it while you can" is the song that for them, sums up who she is as a singer. Go to YouTube and listen to it. She spawned the future group of female singers.

While there have been many female solo artists to follow Joplin, two stand out to me as influencers and heavy weights. Madonna and Lady Gaga have followed in her footsteps to become powerhouses in the music industry. Like Joplin, they were able to change their styles with each album and remake themselves constantly so as not to become complacent or stale. It is not easy to maintain your top of the chart position doing this and the proof of it is how many singers/groups do you know that the minute you hear the first chord you know who it is. You can't do that with these two because each year and album they sound like someone different. That is incredible talent.

As young people became disenfranchised by what was happening in the world around them they wanted to put their spin on music and storytelling so they took their rock roots and made changes to it in a way that reflected their feelings and anger. Heavy metal has as many as fifteen groups that are credited with creating this genre of music but certainly The Who, The Kinks, and Black Sabbath are near the front of the line. The same with Punk Rock as many bands moved the music into this style with The Clash and The Ramones near the top of the list. As for New Wave, you might be surprised to learn that Debbie Harry and Blondie are credited with being the first group to be called out for this new sound. All of them led to the next group turning the industry on its head.

Hello Grunge and hello Nirvana. This Seattle based band dragged their sound out from the small clubs they were playing into the mainstream along with hundreds of others playing in the area and up and down the West Coast at the time. Like The Beatles, they created a whole subculture of clothing and accessories for the grunge craze and really changed the sound of the music being played forever.

This is another category where it would take a whole book to do it justice but I'm going to focus specifically on moving it from niche to middle America mainstream.

Glen Campbell was the first big name in country to make it on pop radio and the Billboard chart. He was so popular that he had his own TV show in the early 1970's. He proved that it was possible for a country star to sell records to non country fans and it led, eventually, to the biggest country star of all time to cross over, Garth Brooks.

But it wasn't just the men of country crossing over, the ladies wanted in on this too and when Dolly Parton came into the eye of television and movie viewers another country star was born on the pop charts. Her success led to the biggest country star of all time to do the same, Shania Twain became a mega star. Today there are many country stars crossing over to pop and surprisingly many pop stars going the other way including of all people, Beyonce.

You may have noticed I left some big names off this list including Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, and many others. While their contribution to the music world is extraordinary I can not say that they actually changed the music industry with their sound. Swift, to be sure, has changed the industry on the business side like no other. You could make a case for the Beach Boys and the whole California surfer sound but it didn't really last or move beyond them. Other types of music have their icons to be sure and the story of Woody Guthrie, John Prine, and others will have to wait for another day.

I know this was a cursory look at these leaders and they deserve to have a deeper dive into their contributions so I hope that if any of them interest you that you will take the time to look up what they did and learn for yourself how important they were to music.